Even if you do not play the game, you’re probably curious about Death Stranding. Hideo Kojima’s lavish wandering simulation is a strange beast with many narrative and playful peculiarities as well as cultural allusions to the left field. Here is an overview of the biggest crazes in the game.
When you play Death StrandingThis article contains important spoilers.
Amelie’s inappropriate footwear
Amelie lives on a rocky volcanic beach, where the sand is very fine. She is occasionally seen jogging in the surf. Of course, her selection of shoes is a pair of glossy shiny party high heel shoes. What she desperately needs is a comfortable pair of flip-flops. At other times she wears a white dress on the black sandy beach. Again, this seems bad advice.
Baby Euthanasia
BBs are unborn babies who are kept in portable liquid-filled capsules. They are able to detect the dangerous spirits and act as useful minesweepers for all who penetrate into the wilderness. The BBs are cute, but unfortunately they have a durability. When it’s time for retirement, they are euthanized and their bodies burned. As far as we can tell, this is the only video game to burn dead babies.
“Celebrity” performances
Director Hideo Kojima has packed his games with a number of friends, including Hirokazu Hamamura, longtime manager of the Japanese games magazine Famitsu; honors host Geoff Keighley; Musician Daichi Miura; PlayStation Manager Hermen Hulst and TV talk show host Conan O’Brien (more on that later)
Corpse taxi service
If corpses are allowed to fester in Death Stranding, they can cause all sorts of problems, such as: B. increase the number of ghosts. So it’s important to bring her to a crematorium. Sam grabs her and grabs her on his back. They are actually quite heavy and it may be socially awkward to walk around with a dead body on your back. Even so, it is a pain to kill people and then dispose of their bodies, making this game one of the rare games where violence has consequences for the players.
Extinction Mañana
The story of Death Stranding is ultimately based on Amelie’s status as an agent of extinction. It is their cosmic duty to trigger the end of humanity. But she has some leeway when she destroys everyone. On the whole, she tends to leave it behind, unless Sam convinces her to hold back a little so people can live a few thousand years.
Fragile creepy naked walk
Fragile nemesis is a nasty piece called Higgs, who wears a golden skull mask and possesses magical powers. In one scene, Higgs Humiliates Fragile (played by Léa Seydoux) by forcing her to strip down to the underwear and run through Timefall Rain for her youthful body to age quickly. He allows her to cover her face. The whole scene is extremely scary (and not in a good sense), with strange camera angles under the gusset.
Ghost scissors and the grateful dead
Although Sam has access to weapons and grenades, his best piece of hardware is a bracelet with attached scissors. He uses it to sneak up on ghosts and remove the lines that bind them to the physical realm. These ghosts, called BTs, die and scream into the void. Later, the doubly-dead ghosts have a different opinion about demi-mortality. They send Sam a “Like” social media, obviously thankful that their souls have finally been freed.
Heartbeat action
Heartman is so named because he spends a lot of time holding his own heart so he can visit the afterlife and search for his dead family. His heart stops every 21 minutes and is then revived a few minutes later with a chest-mounted defibrillator. He spent about ten years of his life in the afterlife and is a bit weird. Heartman is an avid collector of DVDs. I guess he does not get many party invitations.
I am a dead man
This is what the main questmaster Deadman says with a detailed explanation of why he is called Deadman. It’s because he’s dead, or at least parts of other dead people. If you miss the literary reference, he is fully equipped with a scar on his forehead and in case you are not quite there, Deadman says he is “Frankenstein’s Monster”.
joking
To be honest, Death Stranding is not a big fun factor. But there is one scene where the otter-loving settler, played by Conan O’Brien, has decided to start a small stand-up routine based solely on otters. Sam turns out to be a tough audience. At least he comes away with an otter hat.
Kafka
The Odradek is a shoulder-mounted scanning device that Sam and BB reveal ghosts. It is named after a short story by Franz Kafka, in which a man tries to identify a mysterious being, an Odradek. The story, entitled “The Care of a Family Father,” describes the creature as a kind of spool for “thread,” which is a constant theme in Death Stranding. Kafka references are very brand-related for Hideo Kojima.
Larynx squatters
Sam is a repatriate, which means he can die and return to life. When he does, there’s usually a little animation that involves the presence of a baby . deep in his throat. The baby sometimes shows a thumbs-up sign and sometimes a naughty butt. It’s cute, though I imagine it’s pretty uncomfortable for Sam.
Mama, at Death StrandingKojima Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment
maternity
This is an issue that is well received in Death Stranding, and it is rarely a happy story. From BB’s dead mother, Mama’s dead child, to Sam’s complicated relationship with his mother (who suffered from uterine cancer) and Deadman’s lack of mother, the general conclusion is that motherhood is a gateway to tragedy. None of the mothers in this game can escape tragedy, not even Heartman’s wife, who also dies.
Harmful gases
Sam often has to travel into deep cracks where toxic gases are waiting for him. Called Vog, gas is a big problem for settlers (called preppers). Almost always a lost item that is useful to preppers is waiting to be picked up. Sam is the man for the job. With an oxygen mask it is much easier, otherwise he risks losing consciousness. Vog also seems to be attractive to BTs. Basically, this is a sign of an unusually tricky search.
Death Stranding
Oval office hologram
At the start of the game, Sam receives his marching orders from the President of the United Cities of America, a kind of post-apocalyptic nation. They meet in a boring storeroom, which is transformed into the Oval Office using a kind of holographic technology. This technology also connects her with Amelie, who has been captured by villains but may use holograms to communicate with her budding rescuer.
Faeces and urine
Sam’s safe room is a small room where he can recover, shower and make a nice shit. Death Stranding encourages players to poop and pee, as it creates a rudimentary form of grenade that can be used against BTs (because Sam’s DNA is so evil, even its waste explosive). Later, shitting and peeing will be less useful as Sam’s blood is automatically removed during recovery sessions and turned into even more powerful weapons.
Q-Pid
Q-Pid is the name of a necklace that connects Sam’s various cities across America through an advanced Internet-like network that can also be used to print useful 3D objects. Every item on the necklace contains scientific formulas, including the Higgs mechanism. The word “cupidity” refers to greed. Yes, you can buy a replica of the necklace, which costs you $ 325.
Romantic problems
In a mission Sam spends some time reuniting two lovers. Which is nice. The two lovers spend the rest of the game surprising Sam with whiny emails in which they complain to each other and complain about the inconvenience of romantic relationships.
Stupid names
Every place in Death Stranding has a ridiculous name. Bridgett is the president who literally wants to build bridges. Cliff is called Cliff because he has left the deep end and cliffs are the end of things or something. Amelie is a tortured pun against America. Places have names like Capital Knot City, Port Knot City and West of Capital Knot City Distribution Center, which are both descriptive and confusing.
Touch Phobia
Sam is apophysophobic, which means he can not bear being touched by other people. This turns out to be a problem when dealing with sensitive people like Deadman. It is also marked by handprints on Sam’s body from his involvement with BTs and their associated monsters. It is often caused by an early life trauma that will be detailed later in the game (and I mean really very detailed) when Sam’s origins are explained.
umbilical spirit
Mum is seriously pregnant when she is involved in a catastrophic disaster. People who die during emptiness and whose bodies are not cremated become evil spirits (BTs). Mama is buried under rubble. She survives and is saved, but her baby dies. The baby turns into a ghost with an umbilical cord that is still attached to Mama, who refuses to let the baby go. Luckily, Sam intervenes.
Vehicle underside
In Death Stranding, you can earn a few cars, most of which are virtually useless, at least until you or someone else builds a road. They require a high level of driving skills to overcome natural obstacles. Your batteries are running out very quickly. It is almost impossible to repair a vehicle if it is tipped over or stuck on a rock. However, they are good at mowing predators (aka mules) and charging booty from mule camps.
Whales and dead fish
Marine life abounds in Death Stranding. They can sometimes be defeated by bosses, but usually they are dead and on a beach. This is an indication of a natural phenomenon called Cetacean Stranding, where whales and dolphins settle on land, which is often fatal. One of the many themes of Death Stranding is extinction. Dead fish are also a sign of recent events with BTs.
X marks the commercial
X is a common abbreviation for cross-promotion. (eg, Death Stranding X JF Rey) There are plenty of product placements at Death Stranding, but none are as strange or gritty as Monster Energy Drinks, which are somehow the only consumer product that survives a general apocalypse.
Death Stranding
Delicious beetles
Death Stranding does not offer much culinary pleasure. Apart from the occasional delivery of pizza, the food seems to come in the form of thick maggots, called crypobiotes, which are found in the wild. They replenish life and help Fragile to counteract the time-accelerating effects of Timefall Rain. Fragile loves to eat these Tardigrade-like animals. The macho hero Sam discovers them disgustingly, but finally discovers that they are delicious.
Ziplines
Much of Death Stranding’s geographic area is covered by snow-capped mountains that are difficult to cross and crawl with BTs. And since you’ll need to cross the mountains at least twice during the campaign – including numerous intra-mountain missions – joins are a blessing. Sam is able to climb a mountain and build a Transgipfel Zipline. Dead easy. After that, the crossing of the mountains is rather a fun fair.
Learn more about Death Stranding through Polygon’s coverage.
